Search smh:

Search in:

Bob Brown joins Sea Shepherd board

Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has joined the board of anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd.

Dr Brown, who retired from the Greens leadership and the Australian Senate last year, will join Sea Shepherd Australia's board of directors early this year, the organisation announced on its website.

Dr Brown, who is a long-time friend of the Sea Shepherd's public face Paul Watson, said he had long admired the group's activism in trying to prevent Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.

"It is an honour to join the Board of Sea Shepherd Australia, whose mission, backed by the majority of Australians, is to protect nearly 1000 whales from the Japanese slaughter fleet this summer," he said.

Advertisement

Mr Watson said he was "immensely proud" to have Dr Brown on board.

"Bob Brown has been a hero of mine for three decades going back to the days of the campaigns to protect the Franklin River," he said.

"What I most admire about Bob is that he is a living example of the three virtues that we need to protect our oceans and our planet - passion, courage, and imagination."

In recent years, the group has been engaged in heated confrontations with the whaling fleet, and were recently ordered by a US Court not to approach the Japanese ships.